Upsilon
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New regulations on sulfuric acid in the U.S.?
About a year and a half ago I bought a liter of 98% sulfuric acid for less than $20 USD on Amazon. I didn't use much of it and looked at it today, and
I guess the plastic contaminated it (should have moved it to a glass jar) and it is now extremely dark-colored (it was practically clear before). So I
figured I'd just order another and put it in a better container this time. But I can't seem to find anything reasonable anywhere at all. Are there
some new shipping regulations on it or something? Is there still anywhere I can get it cheap?
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100PercentChemistry
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Home Improvement store.
I don't know of any regulations. 1 year ago I bought it from amazon also. At any home improvement store in the U.S they sell it as drain cleaner at
93%. It around $10 per quart. 1.1 quart is in a liter. Do you live in the U.S?
[Edited on 12-9-2015 by 100PercentChemistry]
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Upsilon
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Quote: Originally posted by 100PercentChemistry  | I don't know of any regulations. 1 year ago I bought it from amazon also. At any home improvement store in the U.S they sell it as drain cleaner at
93%. It around $10 per quart. 1.1 quart is in a liter. Do you live in the U.S?
[Edited on 12-9-2015 by 100PercentChemistry] |
Yes, I am in the U.S. If the drain cleaner is 93%, what is the remaining 7%? Just water or something else? And is that still concentrated enough to
literally burn holes in paper (like my 98% does)?
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aga
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The brown stuff is some carbon crap.
Boiling with even 3% hydrogen peroxide removes it, with stirring.
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Upsilon
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| Quote: Originally posted by aga | The brown stuff is some carbon crap.
Boiling with even 3% hydrogen peroxide removes it, with stirring. |
Boiling as in the boiling point of water? Because sulfuric acid by itself doesn't boil until 337C and begins to decompose at 300C.
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battoussai114
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There's that new regulation in the Europe, maybe your local stores are following the trend...
BTW, did they actually ship concentrated sulfuric acid to you!? Around here only a few private transporters can handle concentrated acids and other
hazmats, so much that it's cheaper to buy analytic grade stuff locally than industrial/technical grade online.
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aga
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| Quote: Originally posted by Upsilon | | Boiling as in the boiling point of water? Because sulfuric acid by itself doesn't boil until 337C and begins to decompose at 300C.
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With contaminated store-bought Sulphuric acid, just add some 3% hydrogen peroxide then boil as hard as you can until you get fumes.
Clear concentrated H2SO4 results.
Don't take my word for it - either do a ton of googling or just try it.
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100PercentChemistry
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Remiaining 7 percent
The remaining 7 percent is 6 percent water and less than 1 percent 9-(2-carboxyphenyl)-3,6-bis(diethyl amino)xanthylium chloride. That is violet 10,
it turn the acid browish so you know that it is acid. It will char paper.
[Edited on 12-9-2015 by 100PercentChemistry]
[Edited on 12-9-2015 by 100PercentChemistry]
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aga
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Not after it hits boiling sulphuric and H2O2 it doesn't.
All the OC just goes to bits in boiling pirahña solution.
The small % water does tend to stay.
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hyfalcon
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Just how much sulfuric acid do you need? Here's where I get my acids.
https://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=sulfuric
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The Volatile Chemist
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Wow... (that got a really nerdy sounding 'wow', more like 'wohohohow')
That's cool. Of course nothing beats a 10 minute drive to pick some up when you need it, but still, that's nice.
It isn't always violet 10.
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subsecret
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Distilling might be a better way to go if you want to buy sulfuric acid OTC as drain opener; I've noticed that this acid contains some metallic
impurities, a lot of which could be lead. If you can get some high-temperature grease, use NurdRage's procedure. Rooto also contains something that's
turned my reactions light pink/purple before. Here's making methyl salicylate:
If they had regulations on sulfuric acid, we probably wouldn't be seeing it in stores very much.
[Edited on 14-9-2015 by subsecret]
Fear is what you get when caution wasn't enough.
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UC235
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| Quote: Originally posted by subsecret | | Distilling might be a better way to go if you want to buy sulfuric acid OTC as drain opener; I've noticed that this acid contains some metallic
impurities, a lot of which could be lead. If you can get some high-temperature grease, use NurdRage's procedure. Rooto also contains something that's
turned my reactions light pink/purple before. Here's making methyl salicylate |
I think it's quite unlikely to contain any amount of lead since it's all meant to go down the drain and lead-lined reactors haven't been in use for
well over 100 years, probably. It's certainly not recycled from spent battery acid either.
The purple means it is almost certainly iron contamination. You're witnessing a positive test for a phenol group on your salicylic acid.
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The Volatile Chemist
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The sulfuric acid I have is usually pink-orange, but when salt is added, to make NaCl, it turns yellow  But it's no big deal to me.
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aga
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Please explain.
Adding NaCl to sulphuric acid to make, er, NaCl ?
Confuseled. Muchly.
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The Volatile Chemist
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Haha, I meant HCl. I'm not that uneducated...
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